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blast. millions could feel this storm in america's midsection. hit by a monster blizzard. whole towns shut down. hurricane force wind downing trees, leaving thousands without power. screen left is the result of what is happening screen right. that's where we start. i'm bill hemmer, welcome to "america's newsroom.". martha: good morning, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. at least two people lost their lives in this storm. a man in cans -- kansas died after his suv hit a icy patch and in oklahoma a person died after a roof gave way under heavy snow. bill: this is the second time they have dealt with a major storm in seven days. amarillo, texas, buried in snow. cars are stranded on the highways. you see people, some were trapped in the bitter cold for hours. on it goes. mike tobin live in the heart of all of it. kansas city, missouri. what is the situation where you are, mike? good morning.

>> reporter: turn to a live picture that pretty much says it all. what you see in the supermarket parking lot is a snowplow that is stuck. he was trying to plow out of the parking lot. he got in the heavy, wet snow. he has a pickup. he has a light back end. he is calling his buddies to get him out. i tell you something making road crews happy, that most people are staying off the road, except bobby, our cameraman. there is car coming. i don't want you to get hit by that guy. the missouri department of transportation says they're throwing everybody they have at the storm and they're just barely keeping up. what they need for the storm is to let up right now. what they're glad about as opposed to last time bad weather hit, people are not out on the road pause the storm hit in the middle the night. last time around it turned into a big towing operation because people got out and drove. they hope people stay home and make their jobs easy.

wet, heavy snow, ten inches where i am. reports of 17 inches in the different parts of the state. southeast part of the stay, icy rain coming down with the snow. so the driving very treacherous. bill and martha. bill: we hear about the icy winds r there many power outages where you are? >> reporter: 33,000 people without power in kansas and missouri. that heavy snow is end abouting the tree limbs bes down taking out power lines. the icy rain comes down and weighs down the power lines and takes them out. on top of that the power crews can't get to the power lines to replace them that quickly. it is pretty treacherous. a lot of people are without power this morning and we wish best of luck to them. back to you guys. bill: the people, are you seeing a lot of that. >> reporter: more cars are getting off the road. they're having tough time to

get around. this buddy has a bobcat coming, trying to dig him out. he is working on the problem for 30 minutes. for the people getting out, they're getting stuck. as far as big snowplows with the missouri department of transportation, they're so heavy they're handling it. they like the wet and heavy snow because they get it off with one sweep of the plow as opposed to lighter, colder snow. bill: i bet. did kansas have this a week ago or did they escape the first round? >> reporter: no, they got nailed a week ago. they were so many people driving and didn't take it seriously. they toad 200 cars in the mid of that snowstorm last time. for the most part people are staying home not getting in their cars. bill: it hayes been the heart of the winter in that part of the country. we'll check with you later this morning. mike tobin in kansas city. >> reporter: you got it. martha: closing parts of state of new mexico.

look at albuquerque, to nearby roadways which is creating somewhat of a traffic nightmare while the crews clear snow from a stretch of i-40. >> how long we're going to be here for because the weather is clear up, up here. so, doesn't make sense are if us to stop and not be able to drive anymore. >> soon as they get it open. better off it will be. cost money to sit still and cost to run the thing empty as far as fuel surge. so. hopefully they get it cleared up. martha: looks like they're working on it. they're doing pretty good job. new mexico police say westbound traffic is open on i-40. eastbound lanes remain closed. truckers will have to sit to wait it out in that direction or try to get off on side roads. also we have this for you from egypt. an awful situation where a hot-air ballon filled with

tourists exploded in the sky and then fell a thousand feet to the ground. imagine how frighten this was. these are some of the tourist photos from the launch site where the victims had taken off just moments earlier. and then at least 19 tourists from europe and asia were killed in this tragic accident, after the balloon caught fire. it triggered an explosion in a gas canister. leland vittert, live in jerusalem. what exactly happened? where is this accident? >> reporter: terrifying for the folks who were inside this balloon, martha. they were up at about a thousand feet over the egyptian city of luxor. that is down in the south where a lot of historical sites are. pyramids, flying over the nile river early this morning. this line that goes from the gas canisters on the balloons to the burner that actually heats up the hot air somehow leaked and the gas began to explode. with the balloon on fire and down there into the basket

where all those people were. it fell about a thousand feet from where it caught fire. then it crashed into a sugarcane field. there is not much left of the balloon, the basket and we're told a number of bodies they recovered were also in fairly bad shape. at least 18 people died. some french, chinese, british citizens. one of the survivors is actually the pilot, martha. who the authorities will start talking to. he survived as the basket was a couple feet off the ground, he jumped out and landed in that sugarcane field, evidently saving his life. sadly that didn't happen for his passengers. martha? martha: that is horrible, horrible story. you know, obviously there has been a lot of pressure on tourism in egypt anyway because of the political situation there. does this have also a bad effect on it? >> reporter: well, certainly this is very scary. doesn't say a lot about the safety standards there in egypt for the hot-air ballon industry which is a big

tourism draw there down in luxor. something a lot of people did. they grounded all the hot air ballons. to give you an idea how desperate the situation is in egypt where tourism is the lifeblood of the economy, right now it is high season down in luxor. the hotels are only 25% filled. with the revolution, the violence, the unrest. you had the first real strangle on the egyptian economy. now this is certainly a double-whammy for tourism right at a time when they're trying to get as many tourists in there as they can to simply feed families for those who rely on it for their income. >> tragic loss for all the tourist families. leland, thank you very much. bill: time is running out for lawmakers to stop $85 billion in spending cuts. some of which could begin in the month president obama, for his part, back on the road today, heading for newport news, virginia. you will see him in three hours time. that is big military community where he plans to highlight painful cuts they say for the pentagon and the

u.s. navy. but republican leaders calling on the president to quote, stop campaigning and help them solve the problem. but at the moment, there are no meetings planned between any of these sides, the house, the senate, the white house and they're taking friday off as of now. martha: all right. well the looming budget cuts were high on the agenda when the president sat down with the national governors association yesterday. arizona governor jan brewer went "on the record" with greta van susteren to get her impressions exactly what happened at that meeting. here's that. >> you know, he definitely says he wants to work together but obviously he doesn't want to compromise one little bit. bottom line he wants to raise taxes. and he doesn't want to cut. i think the american people believed, that the time now is to start cutting the budget. martha: so when it came to compromising governor brewer went on to say that the president said that the elections were basically behind him and that he was going to do what he thought was best. that according to governor

brewer from arizona. bill: in the meantime, markets, they're on edge, waiting for the final outcome of a national election. this one in italy. where you have europe's third largest economy and a deadlocked election help sending the dow tumbling more than two points yesterday. stuart varney, host of "varney & company" on the fox business network. okay, my friend. my british friend, good morning to you. let's start with a baseline of knowledge here. what is going on in italy? >> italy just rehe can projected -- rejected endless economic misery. they brought back berlusconi and retired comedian. they basically wrecked europe's policy of getting out of their financial mess. we reacted with a big selloff on the stock market. what happens there will have a big impact on what happens over here. that's what we're dealing with, bill. bill: we fell more than a percentage point, yesterday. more than 200 points he said. that has our market spooked,

right? there is lot of talk whether or not italy should go through austerity to get the books right or whether or not that is the correct way to go. paul krugman writes about austerity. says it doesn't work. nations imposing harsh austerity suffered deeper economic downturns. the heart cher the austerity the deeper thedown attorney. do you see it that way? >> what paul krugman wants he wants a lot of money printing. he think as stimulus program. he wants an even bigger one for europe. he doesn't care about the debt. he says building up debt does not matter. surely debt is at the heart of europe's crisis. they can not repay the debt they have got on the books already. if you increase that debt you make the economic crisis even worse. bill: it appears the vote right now in italy is going in krugman's favor. >> it is. bill: they don't want

austerity, stuart. >> i suspect underneath it all they don't want the euro. i think they're prepared to bite the bullet, experience intense pain for three, four, five months, and establish their own currencies which they can devalue whenever they want. bill: see you at 9:20 on fbn. markets open in 20 minutes. stuart varney, thank you, sir. martha: why are italy's election results having a great impact on our markets here? italy is the tenth largest economy in the world. their debt is 126% of their gdp. that is the highest since world war i. unemployment in italy is over 11%. for young people under 25, unemployment jumps to more than 36%. some folks look at those numbers and wonder whether or not it is a portent of things to come here. we'll see. on this tuesday morning we're just getting rolling here, bill and i. a new push to eliminate one state's income tax. why critics say it would ultimately hurt the middle class and the poor they believe.

bill: we just mentioned president obama is on the road to push congress to stop the budget cuts from hitting at the end. week. republicans are fighting back saying the president could get a whole lot more done if he just stayed behind in washington. martha: the stars of the movie about the hunt for usama bin laden, "zero dark thirty.", are now putting their support behind an effort to free the jailed pakistani doctor who helped lead them to bin laden's location. >> i'm not a policymaker but i definitely believe that, we should do whatever we can to release anyone held for trying to find him. and yeah, it breaks my heart to think that he is still in prison. the american dream is of a better future,

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martha: disturbing story coming out of monterey, california. as you probably know since yesterday in the half moon bay area they have been trying to find a family with two young children and two adults aboard a boat that sent out a distress

signal. the last thing that we heard from this boat was that they were abandoning, abandoning ship. the understanding is that they had two young children under the age of eight. one was their child. the other one, according to the reports was said to be a cousin. but the crazy thing is, they can't figure out, no one else reported this family missing. they're trying to get more details on the boat itself, who these people are, how they might get signals to them. they are frustrated because they don't have any background information on who this family is. they're urging anybody that might know to get in touch with them in monterey bay, monterey, california. they say a 29-foot sailboat took on water after their electronics failed. they need any information on that. >> meantime the republicans are blasting the president ahead of the trip to the shipyard in virginia. they say the president needs to stop the road show and work with them to find a solution. >> this is not the time to be out campaigning. this is the time to solve

something. he is going on the road tomorrow, 150 miles away, hype this up, to try to scare the american public, when he could go one mile down and talk to harry reid. bill: that is cab fare, by the way. steve hayes, senior writer, "weekly standard." fox news contributor. good morning to you. >> good morning bill. >> president is on the road. no meetings to talk about this between senate leaders and house leaders. no meetings with the administration. friday there is no session on the schedule for congress. >> right. what's different about this one is that in the past, the fiscal cliff, these other things you at least staff to staff contact and negotiations and ongoing discussions, sort of largely out of public view. that even is not happening in this scenario. i think we're likely to see the sequester come march first and see how it plays out the next month. bill: if it comes, this deadline is little different from what we've seen in the past, steve. >> right. bill: this is gradual. make it works its way into the system a little bit at a

time during the month of march. for sure during april. >> right. bill: it seems to have a different feel. there is not the urgency there. >> it does. this is where the white house is having, creating some problems for itself in the case that it is making right now because by laying out these scary scenarios and talking about sort of chaos in the streets of the united states, if the sequester comes to pass the white house is setting up expectations among public they will see all these things. it will be obvious that the lines will be immediate. lines to get through the airport, security checkpoints will be immediate and, cause people to miss flights and that we'll see all the effects of the sequester immediately when that is not in fact the case. bill: 5000 border agents. visitor hours to the national park. the snow at yellowstone won't get cleared. the list, this is the "washington post." research on cancer and alzheimer's will stop. if you watched another cable network this morning you would think the sky was going to fall come noontime

on friday. do you believe, seeing how we really don't know how this will play out, does either side have more to lose than the other? >> what did the country do without the snow being cleared at yellowstone all these years. it is tragic. i think there are risks on both sides. i think the long-term risk belongs with the president. one of the areas republicans are trying to emphasize now and where they feel pretty good about their position going in, something has to be done about spending that is not, that is not the debatable. that is indisputable. there is no question about it. the president isn't doing it. rather than spending time and resources now focusing on kind of things we should be doing in the both short term and the long term to put us on a sound fiscal path, the president is out warning about the potentially grave consequences of cutting what in reality is miniscule part of the overall --. bill: politically speaking sometimes in the past that kind of talk works. i have 20 seconds left. medicare, medicaid,

social security it is not part of the current debate. >> exactly. bill: what you believe this is a significant foreshadowing for the big argue maerpts we're about to -- arguments we're about to have in country. >> 2% cuts to discretionary spending across the board. by 2045, if we don't do anything by the entitlement programs, all the revenues from the federal government will be taken up by entitlement spending. there will be none left for any discretionary spending nothing on education, defense or the domestic programs. bill: you have to get in front of it. rand paul gave back 600 grand from his office. one guy. >> it's a start. bill: see you later steve. >> thanks, bill. martha: there is new warning about terrorism here at home. a new report shows that the threats we face now 20 years after al qaeda first attacked the world trade center. bill: also we're now hearing, martha, for the first time those panicked 911 calls after this race car nearly went through the fence in

daytona, sending chunks of steel and a tire into the stand. we will play those chilling 911 calls that are now public. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> yeah. listen, we're in section zero, section 0, daytona racetrack. there are two seriously injured people here. okay? we've been calling for paramedics and nobody showed up.

bill: if you're watching in kansas city, you're lucky because you still have power because it is an absolute whiteout there. might be tobin showed images a short while ago. we have images of folks trying to make it through their day if they have to get to work. it is tough going in kansas city. it is a blizzard. second one in a week. martha: a new warning about

homegrown terror, 20 years after al qaeda first attacked the world trade center. hard to believe that was 20 years years ago. look at the pictures from february 26th, 199. i remember it well. i was working right across the street at the time. six people lost their lives that day. more than a thousand people were injured. a truck bomb be exploded in the garage underneath the north tower. later today there will be ceremony in that will honor those killed in the attack, that highlight ad growing threat of radical terrorism. but it could not clearly portend what was to come at the world trade center several years later. now two decades later, a new report finds that al qaeda is still indeed very active inside the united states. scary thought for everyone. joined by chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge live from washington. so, catherine, what are we learning about these cases? >> reporter: thank you, martha and good morning. these homegrown cases are grossly underreported in the

national media. at least six federal plea deals or convictions since november 30th. that's a case about every two to three weeks in this country. this new report on al qaeda in america finds the vast majority of the are under the age of 30, like a man who was 21 years old. he met guilty in september in a plot to detonate the a thousand pound car bomb at the federal reserve in new york city. he is facing up to life in prison. a month earlier, what is described by justice department sources as one of the most serious plots in recent memory, the brothers in south florida are accused of planning a massive bombing campaign inside the united states. the author of a new report tells fox news quote, the majority of the threat comes from u.s. citizens. over half the individuals profiled in the report were americans. these were not people who were failed by the system. they were people who were part of the system, including 57% who were either employed or pure suing their education. so in other words, what this report finds is that it

really defies the stereotype that people who buy into the al qaeda narrative are somehow poor and uneducated, martha. martha: i remember after 9/11, catherine, there was so much discussion how they would seek people very much assimilated into society here. is that part of how al qaeda is adapting to be able to stay here and work here? >> reporter: well it is, martha. if you listen closely to the confirmation hearings for the cia director or the benghazi hearings in january with then secretary of state clinton you heard senior members about of the obama administration articulate very clearly what the threat looks like today. >> what we're dealing with now is the jihadists who have been associated with al qaeda, who have gained unfortunately very serious combat experience coming back to the countries that they left in order to go wage jihad in central asia. so whether they call themselves al qaeda or boca, or ansar al-sharia, they are

all part of the same global jihadist movement and there may be differences between them but their goals are unfortunately similar and pose threats to us and our partners. >> reporter: one of the main threads that connects the homegrown phenomenon in this country, these individuals who buy into radical islam is the american cleric anwar al-awlaki who was killed by the cia in drone strike in 2011, the first american targeted for death though he still inspires with his writings from the grave. the term often used by the president's counterterrorism advisor that al qaeda has become like a cancer. >> any element that is seated with al qaeda has as part of its agenda death and destruction and so, fully agree what we need to be to be mindful of this mess tas at thatization of the al qaeda cancer. >> reporter: obama administration reluctant to use the term jihadists or radical islam. they articulated very

clearly al qaeda is still here but the form which it takes has changed but it remains effective. martha: catherine, thank you. very interesting. and unnerving report. thanks, catherine. bill: 9:29 on the east coast. some stars of "zero dark thirty." using their oscar spotlight to help free a real life hero. >> i think it's wrong that he is being held. i think we should do a little more than fine them $30 million, one for each year of his sentence. bill: we'll talk live with the people who played a role in tracking down the world's most wanted terrorist. martha: how would you like to avoid paying state income tax, right? bill: yeah. martha: one stay state is considering doing just that. there are more behind it. why it is facing backlash that idea. the we'll be back with more after this. [ male announcer ] any technology not moving forward

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for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. bill: some in washington are making a push it raise your taxes again north carolina, considers a plan that would cut taxes and thus adding to the list of states where workers pay no state income tax. jonathan serrie is on this live in atlanta, georgia. what is behind the push in north carolina, jonathan? >> reporter: good morning, bill. well those proposals are largely in response to anticipated income tax increases from washington. however, when you look at north carolina supporters of such a plan say it is all

about reviving state's economy. listen. >> what that would do is hopefully move north carolina more in the direction of texas as a low-tax state, a high job creation state away from what we are now, which some folks refer to us the california of the southeast. >> reporter: personal and corporate income taxes provide about 60% of north carolina's operating revenue. so the proposal would be to replace these taxes with sales taxes on grocery, real estate transactions and other services ranging from haircuts to plumbing, bill. bill: maybe they could come to new york next. what is the debate over, jonathan? >> reporter: yeah. well, the supporters say by cutting income taxes and replacing them with expanded sales tax, it puts more money in people's pockets. that way they spend more money. the more they spend the more they pay in sales taxes but critics say boosting sales

taxes would hurt the poor and seniors on fixed incomes. folks like disabled cancer survivor patricia evans carpenter, who does not like the idea of seeing sales taxes potentially quadruple on her grocery bill. listen. >> these are things people need. we have to eat. we have to have toiletrys. prescriptions have to be filled. bills have to be paid. i mean you can't just tax everything and make people, you know, expect people to be able to take care of those expenses. >> reporter: now the north carolina governor's own budget chief publicly criticized the plan however supporters of this plan in the legislature say they are optimistic they will pass tax reform by the end of this session. bill? bill: jonathan thanks. jonathan serrie watching that for us in the southeast. martha: big story here. the stars of "zero dark thirty." are now throwing their support to help the

cia lead the way to usama bin laden. dr. afridi was captured in 2011 right after confirming bin laden's location. he had gone there under pretext of giving blood tests, giving shots to some of the children in the house, under a ruse he was traveling around that neighborhood. he was able to give them information that led them to confirm that was indeed the house. since then a group of hollywood-based activists are launching a help free afridi campaign aimed at drawingings -- drawing attention to this unsung hero's story. we're glad to be joined by the people behind the free afridi campaign. bob and carol, welcome. >> good morning. good morning. first time we're called activists. we're concerned americans about justice and injustice. martha: all the right ways

based on what you told me. bob, you said you were in washington sort of on other business when you became aware of this story. for people who don't know his story, "zero dark thirty" has been all over the map. we talked about the torture in the movie as some see it but this is the underlying story that really grabbed you. why? >> i was in washington meeting before a congressional committee with regard to health care and excess spending from the stimulus program and while there i was invited to congressman dana rohrabacher's office where a meeting was going on and they were discussing a dr. afridi. i didn't know much about dr. afridi. i hardly knew anything at all. i took out my cell phone and googling and reading these stories and i was just horrified to find out this is a man who in pakistan was working under cover in order to pinpoint and identify usama bin laden so that the american government could go in and in essence take him out. and when it was time for him

to be extracted from the company, there was apparently a mess-up at the state department. his travel papers for his wife were not complete the properly. he decided he was not going to leave pakistan without his family, knowing full well that he would be captured, detained and tortured, bound, and imprisoned for what turns into be now a 33-year sentence. this is the man who actually was the person who found the person that coordinated the twin towers attack. it is really pathetic. martha: it is. ki are. a, obviously this man knew he was taking a tremendous risk when he agreed to help the cia get to this house and get information and go to the door and say we're doing, blood tests in the neighborhood. innoculations in the neighborhood. can we please, it is such a huge risk that this man took. how could we leave him behind in a situation where we understand he is now being tortured and held

against his will? >> i think it's terrible. this is the man who stood up to help america find the world's most wanted terrorist and a threat to our country. if this is how we treat our friends, who will help america next time? martha: what is the u.s. government saying now about what's being done to get dr. afridi and his family to safety and out of that prison? >> that is it really the unfortunate part about this whole story, very, very little. and in fact, hollywood said very, very little. so that when i was in this meeting at the congressman's office and they were telling this story, as a marketing person and a sales promotion person i just said, something's got to be done. we're one week away from the biggest stage in the world. "zero dark thirty" is nominated for a number of awards and maybe if just, entrepreneurially, spiritually, marketingwise we could put a message out there that the personalities and stars and entertainment

industry can grob on to, maybe we create a message heard around the world particularly in pakistan and the state department. martha: you're trying to do just that. the great irony, there was outrage over the scenes using enhanced interrogation techniques in the movie. that they were showing torture. they were glorifying torture. this man who in reality is being tortured helping the united states to find bin laden. where is the outrage about that real part of this story? >> that is what really moved me. this is a man who is a doctor. his hands have been bound. he has been blindfolded and he lost some of his sight. his family is being attacked. shot at. he has children there. this is the real outrage. but i did want to thank the stars of "zero dark thirty" for epstepping up and speaking out. oscar nominee jessica chastain, her co-star, jason clarke, hit the largest red

carpet in the world and said we believe in your campaign and we stand behind america doing everything they can to get this doctor free. with the oscar buzz that surrounded dr. afridi now, dana rohrabacher has a fresh push in washington to get this guy out. >> maybe some people in the house, the senate, and the state department and the white house will begin to listen because in just a week we've been able to motivate thousands of people coming to a website, free afridi.com. sending for ribbons like the one kira and are wearing right now. they want to do their part financially, writing, lobbying, encouraging their representatives, in order to make a difference. get this man out. bring him back to where he belongs in the united states. martha: thank you to both of you. bob and kira, for bringing your story to us. we have the website on the bottom of our screen right now. freeafridi.com. this is the true story of

"zero dark thirty" in terms of this man's continued suffering and his family as well. something can and should be done by the. please keep us posted okay? >> we definitely will, thank you. martha: thanks, bob and kira. bill: something to watch, isn't it? we're watching wall street too. fed chair ben bernanke speaks a bit later on the hill. we're flying up at the moment up about 86 points after a deep tumble yesterday after the results of what appears ton outcome of italy's elections. off 216 points yesterday. all this has an impact as it bounces around the world and hit us back here. we're watching it for you. december start so far after that thing yesterday. martha: that was roller coaster. the u.s. is talking with iran today about its nuclear program. is that a good idea to have these discussions or do we have a better option to get at that program? that's coming up. bill: what we're learning about the pope's retirement. what do you call a retired

pope? martha: we know now. bill: we know now and you are about to find out. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones!

bill: the nights is sitting down with iran today to talk about its nuclear program but they may find that iran has little appetite to negotiate now. experts familiar with the views of iran's hard-line leaders, say the leaders think they have wet they ared international sanctions pretty darn well in their country. what does senator john barrasso think about that in the foreign relations committee? senator, good morning to you and welcome back to our program. >> thanks for having me. bill: you know what the president has said for some time. there is nothing wrong sitting down and talking with iran. at this point is there or not? >> i'm not convinced there is, bill. four years ago the president said he would offer an open hand with iran. they have responded with a clenched fist. now iran is four years closer to nuclear weapon than they were when he came into office. i had a chance to meet with one.

iranian defense ministers. this was at an international security conference. he seemed very defy nt. i believe now with north korea continuing to go into its nuclear testing that iran feels emboldened. they can do whatever they want. bill: that is interesting point. north korea has run two or three different tests the past couple months. what has been the result of that? the western world has said very legal. >> that's exactly right. they have done underground testing. they have also sent up rocketry. they basically said this is designed so we can send a nuclear weapon to attack the united states of america. so, i think that iran feels emboldened by that. they continue with their nuclear enrichment. they continued to say that their goal is basically to annihilate the nation of israel. and what we have here is an administration that continues to actually talk about unilateral disarmament of the united states? that is what chuck hagel who has been nominated to be

secretary of defense has been proposing. he has said so many things against us even as a nation being nuclear armed and ready, that it is very disturbing to people all across the country. bill: if you think that, do you think we've lost the argument with iran over its nuclear program? is that time passed? >> well, i think that the time has passed. they now view it as, us versus them. sanctions have worked to lower the value of their currency. sanctions have had an impact on people through throughout the country of iran. but i don't believe they have had the impact that has been desired against the iranian government. bill: why are we sitting down and talking again? what's the expectation from something like this? >> i think very little would be expected. i would expect the iranians to have their arms folded in front of their chest and sitting there, perhaps, listening, but basically they're continuing to run out the clock. they may even talk a little bit about wanting to

negotiate but they have no interest in, my opinion, bill, in negotiating or being good partners in this. they want to develop a nuclear weapon. that is their goal. that is their plan. that's what they're determined to do. and we're not going to stop them by talking. bill: senator, your former senator john kerry, now secretary of state, made a comment earlier today, hoping iran will move toward a path of a diplomatic solution. a lot of people would say hope is not a plan or a strategy. but we'll see what comes of it. senator, thank you for your time and input today. john barrasso on the hill. martha. martha: there is something foul in the massachusetts town. why folks there are demanding that the wind turbines be taken down. bill: also, martha, for the first time we're hearing dramatic 911 calls from daytona after parts of a race car ended up flying into the crowd there. listen here. >> okay. >> there has been a crash. these people are serious. sprint tower, section zero,

row 30. >> okay. >> we need help. big-time. quick.

bill: so now we know. two days ago before the pope steps into retirement the vatican now answering some of the linkering questions. a spokesperson earlier today says, once retired the benedict will be known as emeritus pope. he will continue to wear the white and trade-in his famous red shoes. the prada red shoes, for a pair of handcrafted brown loafers out of mexico. why is that important, i wonder. martha: i have no idea. bill: benedict officially retires on 2/28. which is thursday. the first pope to do so in 600 years. martha: italian loafers on one foot and mexican --. going green has some folks in falmouth, massachusetts,

is seeing red today. the wind turbines they say not only decreased home values and disrupted people's sleep and making people sick. the community is taking them down after the hubbub it took to put them up. a whole lot of problems for the folks in cape cod. molly line is live from falmouth. good morning, molly. >> reporter: good morning, molly. two turbines that were erected above the falmouth community here in cape cod were intended to create green energy and energy savings. they have created division here in the community. they may be removed at a high cost. that is because neighbors are complaining about noise and illness. >> it gets to be jet engine loud. >> reporter: neil anderson and his wife betsy live a quarter mile from one of the turbines. they say the impact on their health is devastating. headaches, dizziness, sleep deprivation. >> every time the blade is in downward motion it gives

off tremendous force of energy as a pulse. boom. boom. >> reporter: the first turbine went up in 2010. by the time both were in place on the industrial side of the town's water treatment treatment facility the price was ten million. town officials say taking them down will cost estimated 5 to 15 million in addition to lost energy savings that is what falmouth's local officials did towards doing. >> they votes unanimously that voted to remove them. we think it is the right thing to do. >> reporter: they are being run on curtailment. only operating during the day as select men respond to concern of neighbors which means they're operating at a loss. it has been a bitter three-year battle where the officials said it was vetted, research and put to vote multiple times. >> if we take the turbines down, it will be a shame and an embarassment for the town of falmouth. >> reporter: the town

contacted the state in this matter. they're hoping the state will pitch in to cover some costs. they believe the state was a partner in this process. there's a town meeting vote in april. it is likely this issue could end up on the ballot in may, when the taxpayers would likely vote whether or not to raise their taxes to cover removal costs. martha: incredible. millions of dollars to put them up. millions of dollars to take them down. how much energy? a little more context on wind energy. wind accounts for less than 3% of the nation's electricity generation. texas is the top wind power producing state. they have more than 45,000 wind turbines there. in the whole united states, rather. bill: president obama set to sound off on the looming budget cuts but how much of this is washington show and how real are the cuts? we'll have that coming up. martha: a monster blizzard hits the nation's midsection. 80,000 people have no power today and this is a killer storm. we'll be right back. written by people just like you. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list

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martha: well, here's a fox

news alert for you. a very divided senate is convening at this hour, right? you heard that before. lawmakers are due to take up two controversial presidential nominations today. chuck hagel for defense secretary get as vote in the full senate. the senate finance committee will vote on jack lew as treasury secretary. a lot of push back on both these nominations. neither one of them is considered to be a sure thing. we'll have results for you when those votes come in. also this big story, a second deadly blizzard is hitting a huge chunk of the country right now just days after another powerful storm ripped through. roofs collapsing under the weight of snow that just keeps coming down in this area. icy conditions out there in the midwest and tornado warnings. you don't see that often with snow. that is also weighing on folks in the south and the storm is moving east and that is how we start a brand new hour in "america's newsroom.". great to have you all with us this morning. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning. 80,000 in the heartland waking up without power.

it is bitter cold out there. parts of texas actually have hurricane force wind gusts, whipping that snow around and stranding people like this guy. hundreds of drivers in their cars for hours. that is amarillo, texas, there, reporting a report snowfall for that town. martha: some scene, huh? maria molina is on this she is following it from the fox extreme weather center. hi, maria. >> good morning everyone. that's right. the storm is dumping over a foot of snow across portions texas, oklahoma and kansas. same areas got hit with a foot of snow or more last week on thursday with the other blizzard. looking at more snow across from the same area. this storm system is very large. we're seeing areas of range associated with the area of low pressure across portions of the ohio valley, across portions of the mid-atlantic and portions florida where we have reports of severe weather occurring since early this morning. first the snow. the snow is coming down across eastern parts of kansas, western missouri and

areas across iowa. we're talking significant snowfall still expected up to a foot or more. that's why we have the winter storm warnings in effect throughout the day. you also factor the wind that produces whiteout conditions on the roadways. very dangerous stuff. you should not be out on the roads across-sections of the north central missouri. winter weather advisories as far as east as the state of maine. we have the same storm system across new england as early as tomorro we're talking six inches of snow across portions of new hampshire and southern areas of the state of maine as we head into third day. it will continue to snow wednesday into thursday. on the southern end of the storm system, temperatures warm up. we have strong storms. there is severe threat across portions of florida, southern areas of georgia and the carolinas. there is tornado watch till 3 p.m. local time southeastern georgia and florida. jacksonville, tampa, the city of orlando and in

florida. you have possibility not just tornados but large hail and damaging wind gusts. we'll keep you posted if any tornado warnings are issued. look at accumulation. we're expecting accumulation of foot of it in addition to what you have on the ground already in missouri. martha: it is very, very february, out there, thank you very much, maria. bill: all morning flights out of kansas city are canceled, the morning flights because there could be more snow on the way too. the air port rerains open for the moment. travelers are encouraged to check with the airline for flight information. if you don't have to drive, don't do it. stay home if you can. that staple airport closed only five days ago during the last winter storm that went through. martha: a great day to curl up and watch fox news all day. what else can you do? this is the second big snowstorm in one week for folks in kansas. last week was the second largest on record for the wichita area. this storm we're being told could rival that one. can you imagine? they must be so tired of all

of this in that area. as of this morning some 44,000 people have no power in the kansas city area alone. about 80,000 lost power in missouri, northeast kansas and western oklahoma. as we know from our experience that is the worst part. bill: that's right. fox news alert. we're watching a pair of critical votes expected to get underway on the hill any moment now. members of the u.s. senate take up two controversial presidential nominations. chuck hagel for defense secretary. jack lew is treasury secretary. and our chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live on the hill on both of these. start with hagel. what do we expect, mike? >> reporter: bill, we expect around noon or so they will do the procedural vote to see if they get 60 votes in the united states senate to move forward with chuck hagel's nomination. you may remember ten days or so ago they did the same vote and they fell short at 58 votes. essentially republicans wanted more to i am to take a closer look at some of hagel's controversial positions on issues such as iran, israel and

controversial statements he made in the past. he also came up for his hearing, his confirmation hearing on capitol hill seemed to really struggle. for example the president's policy on iran. >> i support the president's strong position on containment. just been handed a note that i misspoke and said i supported the president's position on containment. if i said that, i meant to say that, i obviously, his position on containment, we don't have a position on containment. >> reporter: so then, chairman carl levin stepped in and essentially clarified the white house position on iran. when you consider iran is one of the big issues over these next four years dealing with iran and nuclear ambitions there were a lot of alarms went off when chuck hagel struggled to pronounce exactly what the obama administration is on iran and those issues.

bill: quickly, mike, does he pass or not? roirt. >> reporter: it is believed he will get the 60 votes. all he needs is democratic votes essentially to be confirmed as defense secretary. bill: what about jack lew now. what's the rub there. >> reporter: the senate finance committee will vote on him today, probably in about a half hour or some he has been a bit controversial. he has been essentially at the right hand of president obama since the beginning. he was the president's budget director. he was also the president's chief of staff. he got a variety of questions on subjects related to those two posts. some republicans are expected to report jack lew. he is expected to be passed out of the senate finance committee and the united states senate will consider his nomination to be the next treasury secretary. bill: busy day for you, mike. mike emanuel live on the hill. details when they come here. martha? martha: more on hagel. more background information on the secretary of defense nominee. hagel served in the u.s. senate from 1997 to 2009.

he sat on the senate foreign relations committee there. before that he served as an investment banking firm based in omaha, nebraska. he is also a vietnam war vet ran. he served in vietnam from 1967 to 1968. bill: we're hearing for the first time the panic following a multicar pileup in daytona over the weekend. if you've seen the images they are stunning. investigators say kyle larsen's flew through is a chain-link barrier, part of car, and hit spectators. listen as one of the spectators makes a desperate call to 911. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> listen, we're in section zero, section 0, the daytona racetrack. there are two seriously injured people here. we're calling for paramedics and nobody called up. okay. there has been a crash. these people are really serious. sprint tower, section zero,

row 30. >> okay. >> we need help, big-time, quick. >> they're on their way, sir. >> okay. thank you very much. okay, bye. bill: you will hear many calls throughout the day like that. 30 people were injured. seven still remain in the hospital today. track officials and folks with nascar are working on ways to make it even safer. if there is a silver lining when all the people get healthy and get well and out of the hospital as soon as they can. they make this sport as dangerous as it is already, safer each time incidents like these arise and i mean, look at that fence. it stopped that car at 200 miles an hour from flying into the grandstand. stopped it. martha: it was an awful, awful accident but they do take such precautions to try to prevent these things from happening. your thoughts go out to the folks. one of them is a young child who is hopefully on the mend. but, that was some, some crash. bill: the tire still had a

casing inside of it. it weighed 140 or 150 pound. that is flying at you in the middle of the daytime. we have a new warning from police. a manhunt expand from a suspect in a wild shootout that left three people dead on the las vegas strip. we'll have that for you. martha: people who know the man who is called "the blade runner", now to some extent, some of them doubting their judgment about him according to some of these reports. disturbing new details are emerging in the murder case against oscar pistorius. we'll talk to a sportswriter who has covered him for many years and who recently spoke with the family. bill: also seth macfarland, your oscar host for 2013, boosting ratings for the award show but would he do it again? he has answered that question. we'll tell you what he says about that. martha: and is president obama boycotting the media? next, coming up a fair and balanced debate on the self-proclaimed most transparent administration ever? is it? we'll be right back. >> i look forward to our

partnering, with that what i want to do is clear out the press so we can take some questions

bill: they're now expanding the manhunt, the authorities are, for the prime suspect in last week's predawn shootout in las vegas. they say 26-year-old ammar harris, driving down the vegas strip when he opened fire on an aspiring rapper's maserati killing him and two others after the taxi exploded. here are the authorities. >> in the hours and days after the shooting we were able to identify the suspect, ammar harris, as the person who fired shots. we've also been able to recover the vehicle ammar harris was driving that day. we have determined that there were other people in the range rover but we can say with certainty that ammar harris is the suspect who fired the fatal shots those days, that day. the occupants of the maserati did not fire shots.

bill: a s.w.a.t. team has been searching his apartment in las vegas. his other last known address, well there were two actually, south carolina, and georgia. police say he should be considered armed and dangerous. martha: new questions today about white house relations with the media after president obama wrapped up a speech to the national governor's association yesterday by dismissing the reporters from the event. take a look. >> i look forward to our partnering, and with that, what i want to do is clear out the press so we can take some questions. martha: seems like a little bit of an odd order, doesn't it? since his second inauguration president obama has done two interviews with major networks. one was with hillary clinton by his side and largely considered to be somewhat of a softball interview on "60 minutes." let's bring in bob beckel, former campaign manager, co-host of "the five" and mary katharine ham. editor-at-large of hot air.com.

welcome to you both. bob, why do you think he did that? why clear the room at that point. >> let me get my ear put back in. the reason he did it because he was going to beat up on congress really hard about sequestration and he didn't want that to be sort of lead coming out of his discussions with them. having said that, my guess it would be leaked pretty quickly. let's face it, he just doesn't much like the white house press corps and he figured out ways around them as his campaign did. he has taken that model. it is frustrating for them. i can understand that. i think it is the way he decided he would communicate. martha: let's look at this it about of montage of sound the way that this administration began its tenure. let's look at that. >> let me say it as simply as i can. transparency and the rule of law will be the touch stones of this presidency. if taxpayer money is involved i have got a responsibility to insure some transparency and

accountability. i think we've provided much greater transpar runsy than existed prior to our administration coming in. martha: that was the goal, mary katherine. how is it going? >> right. as is the case often with the obama administration he makes a lot of good promises and puts in some orders out to the agencies to tell them to become more transparent but just saying something actually doesn't make it so. having white house visitor logs is helpful. that is his go to when he talks about transparency. white house lobbyists and meet at caribou coffee, so the white house logs are not cracked up to be. at least the governors, president, they're all answerable to the public. why not have the back and forth together? as far as bob was saying him not wanting the lead to be bashing on congress, isn't that the lead he wants every single day? that seems to be the pattern. they have been reticent

about "fast & furious". they have been reticent with benghazi about four dead diplomats. i'm not terribly surprised they're reticent to answer questions. martha: as mary katherine pointed out a roomful of elected officials, all are there as result of voters who brought them to the office in their home states and the president. why would this room not be accountable to the president? he has made so many protestations about how open and transparent he wants to be. can he get away with this. >> first of all say i've been doing this 15 years and i was staring at wrong camera when i was talking to you before. so i apologize for that. martha: we thought there was something really interesting happening down in the lower left corner. >> i'm sorry. i'm not used to this seat. i apologize. the, the answer, i think here is that the question is, how do you, if you define transparency what i say will get out, to the public, then they reasonably say i have a lot of ways to get it out. i don't have to do it through a press corps sitting in front of me.

that is easy for them to say. it is tougher for the press whose job it is to cover him at the white house. so again, i can understand their frustration. the governors on the other hand, i'm surprised somebody didn't say, a republican governor frankly, didn't say, wait a minute, why don't we leave the press in here. martha: that was part of speculation, he thought he might be upbraided perhaps by, some republican governor in the room who might want to talk about the pressures of obamacare and that was precisely what he did not want to be recorded, mary katherine. >> that would be sensible i think. again this gets back to the question -- go ahead, i'm sorry. >> i was going to say he is actually pretty good parrying questions. so go ahead take the questions and have the back and forth. it is fun for the public to see and helps you get an idea what he is thinking. >> it is part of the process. that is what the reason there is a press corps in the first place, to ask a question, not to allow the social media arm of the white house to put out. you have to be subject to questions. this is democracy, bob.

>> you don't, i mean, there is no law that says you do, it, you would think it would make sense, but on the other hand, take this governors for example. this is very good point. they could have stood up, happened during very first meeting from the republicans. he got chastised by a few republicans. do you really want that out there? >> he handled that situation very well by all accounts. he is a very nimble speaker. answers questions very well. >> he is. we're 48 hours away from sequestration here or less and so i'm not so sure that he wants to, at this stage of the game, i do know there are some quiet negotiations going on, maybe it was about not up setting that. i don't know. i can't tell you that. >> somebody might ask him b by .025% of the budget means the whole world will explode. >> why are republicans so core worried about it. martha: i don't think anybody is worried about it. everybody left washington. there is one meeting with lindsey graham and john

mccain. supposed to be immigration, not sequester. doesn't seem they're worried about it. >> when it comes to taking questions he compares unfavorably to the past three presidents before him by something like hundreds of availabilities. they have outdone, president clinton and other george bush. >> one thing i can be sure you will not be invited in for "60 minutes" type interview. >> i believe that is true, yeah. martha: cross that off the list. >> i look forward to your sit-down bob. >> okay. martha: don't we all. bob, thank you. mary katherine. thanks you guys. >> thanks. martha: see you later. bill: we do that every day by the way, bob, too, we don't look at the right camera.e course. bill: we've been doing this for six months. some eye-opening numbers on the economy. how some claim the budget battle in washington is holding the economy back. we'll examine the numbers and ask whether or not that is the case. martha: new details in this search for an american couple. they took a once in a lifetime biking trip through peru. they have lost all

communication with their families. >> we have not heard from garrett since january 25th. all facebook communications stopped. all e-mail stopped. all phone calls stopped. and all financial transactions out of his bank stopped. more than two years ago,

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martha: well a reward is now being offered for an american couple who disappeared while biking through the south american country of peru. police say that jamie kneel and garrett hand had been in regular contact with their families. they have not heard from them since january 25th, a month ago. a san francisco bicycle shop where jamie worked managed to raise $4,000 in reward money. meanwhile the u.s. state department said they're continuing to assist in the

search effort for this couple. bill: fox news alert now. ap is reporting that jpmorgan is lazing off 4,000? this comes a week after barclays, barclays announced 3700 layoffs, amid and comes amid reports that gold goldman sachs will announce a new round of cutbacks. that is a stunner. new survey on the economy showing the budget impasse in washington is our country's biggest drag, according to ap it cites factors like too little job growth, excessive government regulation, excessive taxes and cautious bank lending rather. that bring us to bya because you asked. out of georgia, what is the percentage of increased spending versus the $85 billion cut that is being proposed? of course that goes to sequestration as of friday. matt mccall, president of penn financial group, llc how are you doing. good morning to you. is there a simple answer for that question? >> there is not probably a

simple answer if you want to break it down but look at the percentage, he wants to know what percentage of the 85 million, billion is looking at? well, the outlay supposedly for 2013, the estimates right now by the cbo, about $3.6 trillion in outlays of our government. so that $85 billion that could be cut, sequester, only 2.4%. people are making the huge deal about this 85 billion. but you are only cutting 2.4% of the outlays the government already has out there. bill: some are making the case it is not 2.4%. it is less than that. on the screen for 2012, 13, 14, look on the screen, far right. our spending is actually increasing this year, and again even more so in 2014. you see that point there? >> that is the big argument the republicans have been saying. this is spending issue. this is not revenue issue as much. it is a spending issue. even when the sequester goes

through we're still increasing spending at a time we need to cut spending right now. that question is great. a lot of people don't putnam members in perspective, bill. 85 billion, wow, you're cutting so much. in reality as you just showed we're still spending more next year. bill: the point this is not a hard and fast deadline. this comes in gradually. not like some of the battles we've seen recently. do you agree with the associated press poll? you're in the markets every day. is the government holding american business back from going forward? >> i do. regulations are obviously important. regulations are getting tougher. one word i hear from people and one word sticks in my mind for years how to fix in issue is confidence. a lot of americans, majority of the americans don't have the confidence in the government right now. i don't care if you're on the right or left. without that confidence you're expending less. without that confidence you will not start a brand new business. entrepreneurship brought the country out of recessions. we're not seeing that. my mind the government standing in the way of us coming out of this.

we had negative .1% growth last quarter. that is not recovery. the government is doing something. they're standing in our way through a lot of different angles, whether regulation, taxes lack of confidence. bill: you make great points. we'll talk, matt mccall here in studio. hemmer@foxnews.com is the e-mail. on twitter @billhemmer, fire away. 140 characters or less. bya. because you asked. thank you, mat thuf. here's martha. martha:. there is a major storm hitting the plains. almost a foot of snow in many so places. hundreds of snow plows are out on the roads. new video of the developing storm as it is coming in. bill: the numbers are in. how many people tuned in to watch hollywood's biggest. >>. ♪ . [ woman ] if you have the audacity to believe

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martha: three days before 85 billion dollars in budget cuts are supposedly going to take effect. president obama hitting the road in virginia visiting the state's largest industrial employer there. according to the white house if the sequester goes into effect virginia's ship industry will take a major hit. house republicans are slamming this trip saying it's a

campaign-style rally. here is house speaker john boehner. >> the president says we need another tax increase in order to avoid this sequester. well, mr. president you got your tax increase. it's time to cut spending here in washington. instead of using our military men and women as campaign props, if the president was serious he'd sit down with harry reid and begin to address our problems. martha: senior white house foreign affairs correspondent wendell goler joins us live from newport news, virginia where the president is. what are republicans accusing the president of, exactly here wendell. >> reporter: they are accusing him of trying to scare lawmakers in going along with his plans for what he calls a balanced approach to reducing the deficit. here in newport news as you point out, the place that essentially built the modern navy the cuts would hit hard. plans to renovate the carrier abraham lincoln now on hold.

plans to send a second carrier to the persian gulf also on hold. virginia also home to the pentagon. all told 90,000 civilian defense department workers would be furniture load if the furlough goes into effect. the president warned governors yesterday, democrats and republicans don't have to let it happen. >> there are more areas where we can do a lot more cooperating than i think we've seen over the last several years. to do that, though, this town has to get past its obsession with focusing on the next election instead of the next generation. >> house speaker john boehner says the house has passed two bills that would deal with the deficit and not raise taxes, martha. martha: so all of this puts virginia republicans in-kind of a tricky place on this whole thing, doesn't it? >> reporter: between a rock and a hard place you might say. virginia has been trending away from the red state it used to be. remember it went for president

obama twice and that make it difficult for republican members of congress to explain to their constituents why their inability to compromise could cost them essentially their jobs. now ralph whitman says it's about being sensible as well as being responsible sph we all know w. >> we all know we have to reduce the budget. this is not a thoughtful way to go about doing it. it has to be done in a different way. >> reporter: the republican national committee is tacking a different approach almost embracing the sequester in a release put out today saying it would trim 2.5 centss off of each tkhrar dollar the the federal government plans to spend this year. martha: ship repair alone employs 40,000 people across the hampton roads region including new mort ship building which is the largest industrial employer in the state.

it has $3.5 billion in revenue and 21,000 employees. navy cutbacks have delayed a planned overhaul of the carrier u.s.s. abraham lincoln. bill: another day on the stand today for murder defendant jodi arias. this will be day number 11 for her. she admits killing her boyfriend but claims she did it in self-defense. prosecutors grilling her this week about all the lies she initially told police. adam house low on this live in l.a. today. the prosecutor has been in attack mode for about three days. she has been aggressive in her own right is that correct, adam. >> it's real interesting to watch as they go into breaks and come out how they change. at one point earlier in the day yesterday jodi arias was aggressive back to the prosecutor, even in some respects it felt like you were watching the old abbott and costello raw teen where the prosecutor and her were sparring the entire time over what a

certain word meant. when they come back from the break she was a sweeter jodi arias. the prosecutor continued to express. the prosecutor talked about the fact that she says in one of her stories she tried to kill herself in prison but when she pricked herself it hurt. the prosecutor said, what do you think about travis alexander. >> you pricked yourself and it hurt, right. >> yes. >> to use your standard, ma'am of how you stopped because it stung can you imagine how much it hurt mr. alexander when you stuck that knife right into his chest. >> argumentative. >> sustained. >> the defense team right away objected to that and the judge sustained it. it did provide another dramatic moment as you can see the prosecution going after jodi arias in a lot of different areas. >> she has been on the stand longer than i think most people thought, adam. is there a sense of what that could mean as we try and read the tea leaves? >> she surprised us.

first of all it was a abou bit of a surprise she took the stand. a lot of people thought she won't. when she did she was on there a longtime with her defense team. you mention this is day eleven, eight days with her defense team, now the prosecution having their chance. surprised a lot of people that she would be on so long and it looks like it may go on for a couple of more days. you don't know rile, because this case has thrown so many curve balls. once she steps off the stand the defense will most likely call a couple of other witnesses to help corroborate the fact that she says she blacked out during parts of the time that she killed travis alex apbd tkefrplt it has been interesting for those who like to watch trials as this one continues to bring a lot of different stories, if you will and a lot of sparing, bill. we'll keep continuing to watch it, and bring you all the details as this thing moves forward. bill: and as she moves towards day numbe. thank you. adam housley in los angeles.

martha: an audience of more than 40 million americans watched the academy awards. this is exactly what the producers were going for when they chose set seth macfarlane. he says don't expect him to suit newspaper that tuxedo next time. he says no way. a lot of fun to have done it though. you remember this moment as well from oscar night when michelle obama announced the win er winner for best picture "argo." the shot on the left is what actually aired. look at the shot on the right, this is a picture of the first lady as it aired in iran. they covered up her shoulders and moved up the whole front of the dress. this is because of iran's strict sensors, really ironic given the fact that what she was announcing was that "argo" was the best picture of the year, which was about u.s. hostages that were taken in iran. so they said we don't mind about the movie but we're going to

cover up the shoulders and the sleeves. bill: they did a pretty good job. i said which one is the real one. martha: the dress she wore was beautiful. bill: they would be lucky to get macfarlane back. martha: i think they'll be knocking at his door. bill: at the end of our show we are going to do a show thune ours. that's what he specializes in. he has covered olympic runner oscar pistorius for years and now this south african sports reporter questions if he ever knew who oscar was in the first place. we're going to talk to that reporter in a moment here. martha: plus a new multi-state be push against red light cameras. don't you hate those? that is not fair. bill: i'm telling you. ♪ singing] ♪

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martha: this just crossing the wires as we told you we expected that jack lew's nomination to be treasury secretary would be cleared today over the major hurdle in the finance committee. that indeed has happened. 19-5 was the vote there as the senate finance committee says yes to jack lew as the next treasury secretary. >> another fox news alert, house speaker john boehner making news a moment hag on the sequester. here is what he said. >> the president has known for 16 months that this sequester was looming out there when the super committee failed to come to an agreement. it's over 16 months the president has been traveling all over the country holding rallies instead of sitting down with senate leaders in order to try to forge an agreement over there in order to move the bill. we have moved the bill in the house twice. we should not have to move a third bill before the senate gets off their ass and begins to

do something. bill: as in donkey i presume. the speaker is speaking on the hill. the president is speaking in virginia. you're going to see him in about 90 minutes from now as the back and forth continues to jackie for the upper hand on this. as it appears right now the sequester goes into effect on friday, the 1st of march. martha: a sports writer is now speaking out about the oscar pistorius that he thought he knew. the olympian is accused of premeditated murder in the death of his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. gerald inray is an ap sports writer who has been covering stories in south africa for the last three years, developed a very good relationship with him over the years. he actually spoke to his family just days after this shooting. gerald inray joins me now. good to have you with us. welcome to the show. >> thank you very much, thanks for having me. martha: how has all of this impacted you? you covered him closely over the

past three years. what was your reaction when you heard what he was accused of? >> i tell you exactly where i was, i was in another city in cape town in south africa covering a cricket game which is part of our sports beat. i got a phone call from our bureau. i guess like millions of people around the world i was stunned, i was shocked, i didn't know what to think. of course i had to react as a report, as a journalist and put all my experiencess with oscar to one side and report this story as any other journalist and news reporter would do. obviously there is a huge amount of shock and surprise and i was stunned. martha: is there anything in his character that you look back at now and you say, well should have been a clue to mow that there was me that there was a different type of behavior that people were registering about him. >> as i wrote in my story yesterday there were these glimpses that people pointed to. a lot of that is hind sight you know and it's a very easy thing to do is look back in hind sight, this should have told us

something, or that should have told us something. honestly no, i will tell you one thing, just before the olympics when i sat down with oscar pistorius he conceded to me that in 2009 in a well publicized boat accident where he suffered some very serious head wound and spent time in hospital and he 0 conceded to me last year before the olympics that that was a moment for him whether where he conceded that some of his life was maybe a bit too fast, maybe a bit too out of control, and after that he told me he sold some high-powered motorcycles that he owned and kind of took a step back and said you know what i have to rethink my life. if i'm honest, the oscar pistorius that i know has always been a very nice guy, a very humble guy, sometimes shy, often cheek key and funny and joking, but if i'm honest, no i could never see a dark side, no. martha: what about his family? i know you were able to spoke to them, see them days after this happened. what is the feeling at that house. >> right the house where oscar is now on his bail. it's not far from where his

house is. his uncle arnold and his sister amy were there. and the situation was unlike any other i've been in, because for them i wasn't really there, i mean their focus was on oscar and this tragic circumstance and they prepared a statement for us, and they read a statement for us for our tv cameras, for me as an ap report and two other south african reporters were the only people invited and we could see that there was a huge amount of somberness in that house. it was unlike the miss tor pam lee, because when oscar is around it's cheerful. martha: you saw them rejoicing when he was let out on bail. there is a lot more to come before they can rejoice perhaps in that way again u. point out that this was a very new relationship for him. >> i lost you there. martha: it was a new

relationship for him, dating reeva. >> right, the situation with his life now, i mean his bail, oscar now is living a life that is unlike any life he's lived. he's got certain conditions that he has tow live by, it's unclear whether he'll be able to run track or train for the next year, two years maybe, i mean oscar's life, pistorius r-r's life has been turned upside down in every single way because of this tragic event. martha: you know what it's tragic for both families that is very clear. gerald, thank you very much. good to have you with us. hope to talk to you again on the case. >> thanks for having me. bill: interesting too what he says about there was never a dark side that i was ever able to even think about with this guy and that is a friend and a reporter. martha: it's incredible. bill: "happening now" rolsz your way in a couple orolz your way in a few short minutes. jenna: more on the new report that spells out the state of al-qaida in the united states.

the findings are troubling. we'll go in depth as to what the face of homegrown terror really looks hraoeufpblgt i like. is the president obama goinday three of grueling cross-examination for the arizona woman accused of murdering her ex. will the prosecutor finally break jodi arias? he hasn't done it yet. we are live in the courtroom. it's all happening now. bill: see knew ten minutes, okay. a deadly blizzard slamming america's heartland. we are tracking the storm as it develops throughout the day and writ is headed next. martha: they are supposed to catch drivers in the act. how much can you really trust those dreaded red camera lights? so unfair.

bill: local governments love them, drivers not so much. red light cameras are busting drivers in 24 states. florida alone raising some $200 million from tickets alone last year. phil keating is on the story in miami. the critics say, actually the cities say the cameras are all about increased safety. is that the case, phil? >> reporter: well, that's what mayors and police chiefs from new york city down to miami all insist is true, that they are about safety. for example miami beach police chief telling me yesterday that in the two years the city has been using the red light cameras injuries and accidents at those intersections have dropped by 50%. florida lawmaker daphne campbell doesn't buy it. she and other lawmakers around the country have submitted bills this year to get rid of the cameras and expensive tickets all together. >> this is madness. this is, you know, there is no name for something like that. hundreds of dollars, i would be so upset.

it's about money driven, seufpl pell asimple as that. >> reporter: the money is divided up between the cities and the camera suppliers. bill: what about the accuracy of these cameras, is that challenged? >> reporter: that has come under scrutiny but american traffic solutions which is a big player in the red light camera business insists its cameras are accurate. it's photographic proof it says, in fact they say it's even more reliable than, say just a cop driving by an intersection. about 600 communities and half the states now use these red light cameras. critics contend the real solution for safety here is the traffic engineering of the yellow light, specifically how many seconds that yellow lasts. >> let even the yellow by about one second and you will typically reduce the violation rate between 60 on 90% that is

usually enough for then the camera will lose money versus its cost and will be removed. >> reporter: florida sponsored to ban this camera. she says this i the number one complaint she hears about from her constituents. bill: thank you, phil. on the red light district in miami. martha: a deadly accident at a major tourist site. now reaction coming in from the scene of this tragedy. we'll be right back.